Isiah Thomas on Michael Jordan's entry into the NBA - "He's the next Dr. J"

Michael Jordan is recognized as one of the greatest NBA players ever.

Jordan totaled six championships, six NBA Finals MVP awards, five MVP awards, and 10 All-NBA first-team selections in his illustrious career with the Chicago Bulls.

With all of the praise that MJ gets to this day, one individual with whom he has had a history of heated altercations, Isiah Thomas, described on the "All the Smoke" podcast how Jordan was viewed when he first arrived into the league.

"When Jordan came in at '84-'85, he was mega-talented," Thomas said. "Andonot only was he mega-talented, but we had never seen an athlete like that. You gotta remember, like in the NBA at that time, Dr. J (Julius Erving) was still the best athlete.

"And when Jordan came in, younger than Dr. J, it was like, 'OK, he's the next Dr. J.,' nobody jumping from the foul line and hanging in the air."

Michael Jordan's unreal athleticism

Michael Jordan was an impressive athlete during his time with a combination of incredible athleticism and elite shotmaking that rivaled some of the greatest to have ever played in the NBA.

As Isiah Thomas said, there weren't that many athletes in the league who even came close to what Dr. J was doing until "Air" Jordan arrived on the scene.

In the "The Last Dance" documentary, Tim Grover, Michael Jordan's trainer, discussed how he had to build Michael from the ground up as Jordan felt he was getting pushed around by the Detroit "Bad Boys" Pistons.

"We started at 200 (pounds)," Grover said." "We added five pounds until he got to 215. I would give him a certain amount of reps to do, but he would never stop at that number. If I asked for six, I knew he was gonna do 12."

Besides Michael Jordan's electric athleticism and scoring ability, his determination and work ethic were unparalleled, which resulted in consistent NBA seasons of pure dominance.